A Life Forgotten
by IBelongInTheOC
Summary: There he was, standing in front of her, with no clue about their past or even who he was. He was lost, and expecting her to find him. But how can you find someone that's never really been lost? At least not in her eyes.


A/N: Omg, okay, so hi, TheOCisMe here. Yeah, author of Undeniably Meant to Be, We're Not Seventeen Anymore, Attracted to the Forbidden, My Cinderella Story, Hopelessly Devoted to You, Secret, and Cannon Beach Changed Us All. The other day, I went to get on my account to update my story, and it told me that my username was no longer valid, and that my account didn't exist. So, here I am, with a brand new story that I've been cooking in my brain for a while, and all the stories that weren't completed before, I'm afraid won't be updated. Except for maybe a re-posting of the My Cinderella Story, and maybe Attracted to the Forbidden. To all of my fans out there, I'm so sorry for not updating those other stories, and now it looks as if I won't be able to. I feel really bad, and before this Author's Note becomes the longest one ever, just wanted to say thanks for all the reviews you guys have given me in the past and I hope this next story will impress you!

-Emily

She never thought she'd see him again. When he had left her that fateful summer so many years ago, in her heart, she knew he wouldn't come back. She had hoped for it, but her mind was just trying to numb the pain that she was going through. When he didn't come back the following school year to try and continue his education, she knew it was over.

Over.

How can love so…Well, there wasn't any word to describe it. The love she felt for him was unexplainable, and she knew she was scarred for life because of it. She had never been able to love another man the way she loved him.

And finally, _finally,_ after many years of finding herself and trying to open her heart to others, he walked into her life again. Just like that.

* * *

She was on the phone for the millionth time that day. Never had she thought being a Private Detective would be this stressful. She wasn't surprised, nor did she really even notice, when Lucy, her secretary dropped another file on top of the 10 files that were already placed there.

"Thanks, Luce, exactly what I needed right now," she said, putting her hand over the receiver. Lucy just shrugged, and Marissa gulped down a glass of water. She finally couldn't take it anymore. "Mom! I'll talk to you later. Something's come up," She said breathlessly, and before Julie Cooper had a chance to respond, she hung up the phone with a smile on her face.

"Lucy," she called, and Lucy rushed in, "what the hell am I supposed to do with these 11 files? I can't take 11 cases on at once."

"You're supposed to look through them, pick out the two that seem the most fitting to your schedule, and then give the rest to me. You've gotten first choice, Ms. Cooper. I'll hand in the ones you don't want to the other P.D.'s later."

"Right," Marissa sighed, "well, I guess I better get down to it, then."

"I'll leave you alone, Ms. Cooper."

"Thanks."

She leafed through the cases, uninterested and bored. Why had she chosen this profession again? She remembered. Ryan. Everything was always because of Ryan. She had decided to intern at an office in Newport, hoping to do some digging about Ryan and Theresa. She had found the job wasn't half bad, and the pay was pretty good, so while her best friend, Summer Roberts-Cohen, produced her own line, called Cohro, she was solving mysteries. Who wouldn't tell her anything? She was beautiful, and had a knack of getting what she wanted.

She was thinking about her job, when she saw a file that made her look twice. She skimmed and scanned and found that this man, whoever he was, suffered from a severe car accident that had caused him to lose his memory. Apparently, there were no records of who he was or anything. No license had been found with him, and the other two who were in the car were currently missing. This was interesting. She had never dealt with a case of amnesia before.

"Luce," she called, "I think I found my case."

"Case?"

"Yes, my case. It appears as if it's going to be a big one, and if it's all right with the other P.D.'s, I'd like to devote all of my time to it."

Lucy looked at her doubtfully, but simply nodded and curtly walked out the door, but not before adding, "I'll set up a meeting with this man right away."

"Thanks, Luce. You're a big help," Marissa said, then flashed her a grin.

* * *

10 minutes later, Marissa was packing up to leave. She had had enough of the office for today, and she couldn't wait to snuggle up on the couch with Teddy, her golden retriever, and go to sleep watching re-runs of the Valley. Oh, and she'd call Summer, too. Summer and Marissa always called each other on Mondays, Thursdays, and Sundays.

"Summer!" Marissa squealed into the phone.

"Coop! Hey!"

"What's been going on since yesterday?" Marissa asked, and giggled.

"Oh, nothing much. Cohen and I were just, getting a little 'us' time in," Summer said, embarrassed.

Marissa laughed. "All right, well, I'll let you go then. Call me tomorrow!"

"'Kay, Coop, bye!"

Marissa threw the phone on the ground and sighed loudly. She was lonely. She called for Teddy, but he was too busy snoring on the floor, and she didn't feel like coaxing him. So she wrapped the big blanket around her, in hopes sleep would find her.

* * *

Marissa awoke with a start. "Oh, shit!" She cursed, looking at the time. 11:00. Her meeting with this guy was at 12:00. She ran into her bathroom, hopped in the shower, washed her hair, conditioned it, washed her body, washed her face, then hopped out. She hated the look, but she moussed her hair anyway, making it wavy, and then spritzed some Bleach Blonde, making it look better. She threw on slacks, and a red v-neck short-sleeved shirt, added some make-up, a little jewelry, a dash of perfume, and she was out the door.

She checked her watch. 11:45. She had 10 minutes to get there and 5 minutes to park.

She finally arrived at her destination, looking a little flustered, with Lucy giving her an amused grin. "Don't even, Luce," she said, throwing her a glare.

"I won't," she said, her grin disappearing, "however, your client might. He's already in there waiting for you. The poor guy seems so lost. Help him find his way," Lucy finished with a wink, and disappeared behind her computer. Marissa threw her another glare, but walked into her office anyway. She saw him faintly out of the corner of her eye as she moved around all of the obstacles in the way of her and her desk. When she arrived at her desk, she sat down, adjusted some papers, and sighed.

"Sorry, I'm a mess this morning. I'm Marissa Cooper…And you are…?"

She looked up to find a man in his early 20's, like herself, with sandy blonde hair, gorgeous, breath-taking blue eyes, and an odd expression on his face. She jumped out of her seat immediately. "Ryan!"

"S-Sorry?"

Think, Marissa, think! This guy, sitting right in front of you is Ryan Atwood, and if it's not him, it's an extremely perfect resemblance. Oh my God, he hasn't changed, but it really hasn't been that long. He doesn't know who he is? How can he not know who he is? He's Ryan! Shit! Ryan. I said his name, and now he's looking at me like I'm an idiot. You can't do this, Marissa.

"Sorry," she said quickly, shaking it off, "you just look a lot like this guy I used to know." _What am I doing?_

He gave her a lopsided grin, and stuck out his hand. "It's nice to meet you, Ms. Cooper."

"Please, call me Marissa. Ms. Cooper makes me sound so old."

He laughed. "All right, Marissa."

"So, tell me everything that you know about yourself."

"Pretty much nothing. The doctors and policemen pretty much told me everything that they could gather evidence from. I guess I wasn't the one driving, and the way the road must have looked or something, I don't know, I'm not really into forensics, but the driver of the car must have been drunk. Supposedly, the two people I was with in the car are now filed as missing persons. The police tried to trace back the license plates, but the house had been emptied. New people live there now, I guess. Some town called Chino."

"Yeah, I know where Chino is."

"Pretty rough part of the neighborhood, I tell ya."

"Yeah. Every town has its down sides."

"Even this one?"

"Even this one," she said with a little laugh.

"So," she continued, "you have no idea who you are at all? Not even a name?"

He shook his head.

"I've never heard of such a thing. Your case is definitely one of a kind."

"Well," he began, "I do have a couple of tattoos. I'm not really sure what they mean, but I guess they could be helpful."

"All right, why don't you show me the tattoos, and I'll take a few pictures. Sound good?"

"Yeah," he said, and he gave her a grin, "I, um, have to take off my shirt."

She laughed. "That's fine."

He blushed slightly but removed his shirt anyway. She gasped at the scars that covered his torso and upper chest. "The accident really did a number on you, huh?"

"Yeah," he replied, turning around, revealing more wounds, but also a small tattoo on his right shoulder blade. Her breath caught in her throat. How could she be doing this? This man, Ryan, whom she knew almost everything about, was expecting her to find him, but how could you find someone that had never really been lost? At least, not in her eyes.

The Star of David was on Ryan's right shoulder, and Marissa almost laughed. Of course, Seth would have convinced Ryan to get this tattoo. It had probably been something stupid they had done together before he had left, but then again, wouldn't Marissa have noticed?

"The Star of David," she whispered.

"Is that what it's called?" Ryan asked, and she jumped back. She hadn't realized she had said it out loud, so she cleared her throat.

"Yes. The Star of David. It's a-"

"A Jewish symbol, right?"

Marissa nodded her head, and snapped a photo with her camera.

"Does this mean I'm Jewish?" He asked, with a little grin.

Marissa shrugged. "It could mean that. Or, it could have some other meaning," she added, and snapped another photo. "All right, any others?"

"Um, yeah."

"Where?" She asked, looking around his upper body for any traces of another tattoo. He rolled down his pants slightly and gestured to the tattoo that was on his lower left hip. _Way_ lower left hip. Marissa thought about how wrong it would look if she got down on her knees to examine, and if someone were to walk in, so, in one swift motion, she bent down, snapped a photo and then stood back up again. She laughed as she reviewed it in her camera.

"What?" He asked, trying to look.

"It says Ryan," she said, giving him a look at the camera.

"Yeah. So?"

"So? So, that means you do have a name."

"That could be someone else's name," he pointed out, and she nodded her head, signaling a maybe, then she smiled.

"Why would you have another man's name branded on your body. It doesn't sound right to me. Unless, you know, you're gay."

"I'm not gay," he said quickly, shooting her a look, and she just laughed.

"All right, so you're not gay, and although it is a little odd to have your own name tattooed on your body, it's the only explanation that I can come up with. Your name is Ryan."

"Ryan," he said, playing with the name on the tip of his tongue, "Ryan."

"Yes, Ryan. See, we're already making progress."

"Okay, so I have a first name, but no last name, and a Jewish star on my back. I guess it's a start."

"We'll get there," she said, "these things take time."

"I don't think I'm a patient person."

"Don't worry. A lot of us aren't," she said, and patted his arm, "now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go have lunch with myself. I'll see you tomorrow, same time?"

"Actually, would you like to grab a bite with me? I know a great place."

She turned around and looked at his hopeful face. _Here we go again._ She nodded, and followed him out the door.

* * *

"I'd like copies of those pictures if you don't mind," he said, taking a bite of his burger.

Marissa waved her hand as if it were no problem, while taking sips of her chocolate shake. "In-N-Out. Best. Food. Ever."

"I agree with you there," he said, giving her a smile.

She smiled back goofily, and when they were done eating, he grabbed their garbage and threw it away, then led the two of them outside. He walked her to her car, and opened her door. "Well, that amnesia certainly hasn't taken away your manners."

He just shrugged, and before saying bye or anything, he spoke up. "How did you know my name?" He asked.

"What?"

"When I walked in this morning, you knew my name."

"Yeah."

"How?"

"I told you. You looked like a guy I used to know, whose name happened to be Ryan. Weird, huh? I guess it's just a coincidence."

"Yeah. Guess so," he said, but he still found it a little odd, "well, it was very nice meeting you, and thanks for having lunch with me. I'll see you tomorrow at your office. 12:00."

"Yep. Nice meeting you too, Ryan. I'll have those pictures for you by tomorrow."

He nodded and closed her door. When he turned around, she grabbed her make-up bag and pretended to re-apply lip gloss. When she saw his car was gone, she threw her lip gloss in the back seat and rested her head on the steering wheel. Silent tears dripped down her face as she wondered what the hell she had gotten herself into.

* * *

A/N: Ahh! So, that's the first chap. Hope you liked. This is a slightly different story, and I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. I have no idea how I came up with it, so don't ask, lol, but yeah. Review, please!

Emily


End file.
